Paranoid Defence Controls Could Criminalise Teaching Encryption

In present world, where democracy and freedom are the buzzword, people are not ready to get under any kind of control in their individual and collective life. But we can see various kinds and degrees of controls or maneuverings are there, imposed by the state or statutory bodies to cut the free and uninterrupted access to many facilities in our life.

Education, teaching and research are not exception and get controlled in many ways that potentially curb the freedom of having knowledge on a variety of fields. It is always advocated by many scholars and academicians to keep the education and knowledge based research works out of any kind of direct or virtual control.

Defense Controls – A Synopsis

Defense Trade Controls Act has been passed in Australia and will be enforced very soon; according to that act, even innocent teaching and research activities, will be considered as an offence under Australian defense export control laws. People are at a bind about the technology supplies, as the government has a list, named Australian government's Defense and Strategic Goods List (DSGL), which contains some specific products those are considered very important for national security. In this perspective, the control has been imposed and the peculiarity of this list is; there are some listed products, which have both military and civil uses. This makes the control a real headache for everyone, involved in knowledge based profession and studies.

Even unknowingly one can be a potential lawbreaker by just sending a mail or message to someone outside the country, which can be adjudged as a criminal offence and could attract a penalty or even imprisonment. Encryption is one such issue that has a “dual-use” character; while one can use this as a mathematical subject but at the same time it has potentially being used in various military services. Therefore, there is always a danger in practicing this particular methodology because anytime the user may be caught on the wrong foot and succumbed to be booked under the law.

Encryption – A Brief Sketch

This is nothing but a process, where by encoding and decoding, the two important part of cryptography, of a message, the privacy of the message are being maintained. Encryption is used in our daily life in many ways to protect the consumer right, identity theft etc. and is not confined in the very bastion of defense spying and espionage activities. Nowadays, both encryption and decryption are important parts of the secured communication study. Like vehicles, telephones; encryption also falls in the category of “dual-use” product and exposed to the vulnerability.

Law, Encryption and more…

Now, if the state misuses its power to curb the study of encryption, it would have long and deep consequences in the teaching process. The people, involved in this particular segment of study, will try their best to acquire the knowledge and always with a fear of breaking the bindings of the law. Teaching of Encryption would essentially ruin the joy of getting knowledge, due to this control, and make the study more and more of criminal nature.

Protests Grow Against Facebook's Internet.org

Debates on Facebook’s `free mobile date’ – Internet.org

The reaction against Facebook’s `free mobile data’, Internet.org scheme has become known all over the world and recently around 65 advocacy organisations from 31 countries have signed an open letter to Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg objecting on Internet.org in an effort to bring about free internet service to the developing world, stating that the project `could disrupt the principles of net neutrality, threatening the freedom of expression, equality of opportunity, innovation, security and privacy’.

With Internet.org, Facebook has been partnering with several wireless carriers as well as other organisations in providing an app which tends to offer free access to some internet services, which include Facebook, in developing countries on mobile phones.

However, in spring, some publishers in India have withdrawn out of the program stating that it violated the principles of net neutrality, the concept that all internet providers should be treating all online services in an equal manner.Zucherberg who has defended the project states that it could co-exist with net neutrality and to give more people access to the internet, it could be useful to provide some free services which he had mentioned in his April 16 post to Facebook.

Leading to New Kind of Digital Divide

He further adds that `if someone is unable to afford paying for connectivity, it could be better to have some access than none at all’.

A spokesman informed BBC that, he is convinced that as more and more individuals tend to gain access to the internet; they will see the benefits and would want to use even more services.’ They are of strong belief that that they have worked with operators offering basic services to people at no cost and convinced that new users would want to move beyond the basic service and pay for more diverse and valuable services. Presently, open letter debates that the limited access provided by Internet.org could be leading to a new kind of digital divide.

Internet.org enables subscribes of partner mobile networks to utilise limited number of online services without the need to pay in making use of the data involved which could include Wikipedia, The Facts for Life health site which is run by the United Nations children’s Fund, BBC New, Facebook, Accuweather together with a variety of local news as well as sports results provider.

Nine Millions – Utilised the Scheme

In order to access the facility, users should use special Android apps, Internet.org’s website, Android app of Facebook or the Opera Mini browser and the web pages that are provided should be basic to minimise the data use and high resolution photos, videos and voice chat facilities are not allowed.

The project has been launched in Colombia, Guatemala, Ghana, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Malawi, the Philippines, Tanzania and Zambia. Network operators have made their contribution since they are of the belief that users will pay for broader internet access when they get a chance to attempt the free content that is offered.

According to Facebook, over nine million users have utilised the scheme as of date. However, the open letter from the digital rights groups that have been published on Facebook, conveys that the activist all over the world have intention of challenging its expansion.

LG Snaps At Apple and Samsung with Photo-Focussed G4

LG Unveiled Its New Flagship – LG G4

LG recently unveiled the leather clad G4 smartphone, the brand’s new flagship which looks nothing like its competitors. Surrounding the screen, the front features a fake carbon-fibre finish if one opts for one of the textured composite version, while the back of the G4 handsets are of real leather.

Options of few colour choices are available which range from conservative black and tan to more outlandish yellow and teal. They tend to have a double stitched seam down the back which is expected to look handmade, though it is not.

The most impressive part of the LG G4 is the screen which has a refined curve that supplements the arched back of the case and the screen is more approachable than the G Flex 2 without noticing the concavity while viewing a picture or watching video.

The size is five and a half inches with resolution, brightness as well as saturation and one of the best smartphone displays at the moment. LG is still unclear on the details but has assured that the G4 would be getting more than a full day’s recharge even if the usage is quite heavy

Camera Great Improvement 

The camera is a great improvement from what was earlier offered by LG in the G3. The back facing camera is 15 megapixels having an f/1.8 lens which tends to focus in 0.276 seconds and the tool can launch and snap an image in just 0.6 seconds from sleep.

It is difficult to state if the 0.1 stop bump over the camera of Galaxy S6 would be an obvious improvement for the users though LG would be marketing the G4 as the phone for the purpose of photography conscious users. On viewing the LG G4, it is notable that LG’s approach to this new entry is distinct from the Apple or Samsung which looks different.

The LG G4 seems like it would be a strong flagship smartphone, though not a bona-fide luxury product. Its big screen which would make Instagrams looks more enticing. With the camera being a major step up in its feature and the phone claiming to have long battery life, it could offer the greatest luxury of all, which is more time.

To Debut in Early June 

The G4 will debut in the U.S. in early June and would be at a cost comparably to the G3. No firm details are available at the moment. Till then LG is planning phones with actual user in beta test and probably more information would be revealed shortly.

Some of the key features comprise of a sophisticated as well as a powerful camera, enabling users in obtaining professional grade adjustments in capturing image. The launch comes at a key time for the South Korean firm and the company is said to have reported its latest quarterly figure on smartphone of around 26% on the same period last year, forming the main part of its profitability.

It has a distinctive design feature in the form of leather back. BBC had been at the London launch of the phone to enquire with the technology media, for its opinion on the device.

NSA Planned To Hack Google Play

There is recently a news about the US National Security Agency trying to hack the Samsung App store named Google Play and this is possible being done so that spywares can be installed in the smart phones. Released on Thursday, this media record has brought out a tremendous upraise in the US. According to the many online news sites it is being revealed that the US security has been allied with the Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia which is namely known as the ‘five eyes’ alliance. This is being done as per a plan in which the surveillance on Smartphones is to be kept so that the percentage of crime due to the misuse of Smartphones can be controlled to a great extent.

Further details: 

Actually this program of ‘five eyes’ is the upgraded form of the plan made by the intelligence bureau in the year 2011 and 2012 popularly known as the ‘irritant horn’. These plans have been collaborated and modified to this stage so that the NSA can actually hijack the data connections of each and every Smartphone and stealthily install the spyware in their phones so that the data exchange occurring in and out of the Smartphones can be operated properly.

The main advantage of this program is that this will help reducing the crime to a great extent. In the crime world, the main exchange f information is through the gadgets and these are mostly the Smartphones. Now while the spyware is running and any sort of misuse is detected then the two parties can be misinformed by the manipulation of the data so that the country can get saved from any sort of adversities that were being planned. These agencies actually were interested just in the Africa region namely Senegal, Sudan and Congo but later on also paid heed to the application servers of the France, Cuba, Morocco, Switzerland, Bahamas, Netherlands and Russia.

It was seen that during the planning of the program, the NSA was looking for a loophole through which they could actually hack. The chance came from a browser named UC browser that is actually a part of the Alibaba group, and from there on the intelligence bureau used the spyware on the 50 million people who used this browser to surf the net. Not only have that, through this hacking many terrorist locations can be detected with the help of SIM carded tracing.

Then again with the help of this program, it has been seen that the suspected terrorists have been caught up and invested and in this way the country will be saved from many terrorist attacks. Not only that these investigators are being totally fast paced to install spyware for the fact that more number of Smartphones can be brought under the surveillance.

Due to this hacking program, enough safety has been ensured and the commoners can do their data operations unhindered as because all the files and the data exchanges that are recorded are secured in an extremely confidential manner.

Mind-Controlled Prosthetic Limbs Allow Precise, Smooth Movement

It is a very unfortunate thing when we see a lot of people are there in this world with lost limbs. The main cause may be an accident or any sort of infection due to which the leg or hand had to be amputated from the body. But we have also seen that now with the help of the prosthetic limbs many people can walk even without their legs too. But then you must be wondering as to why then the mind controlled prosthetic limb had to be invented. Well to know that you have to know the disadvantages of the normal prosthetic limb.

The normal prosthetic limb is actually a robotic limb with a fixed movement so that the limbs can be moved to a limited extent. But this is not at all enough for the person to do his or her daily needs. Not only that these robotic limbs are actually very involuntary and will not work just according to the way you want it to. That is why a group of scientists has brought forward this new notion of the mind controlled prosthetic limb with the help of which the patient will at least be able to control the limb movements.

How will it be possible? 

At first the idea seems incredible as well as next to impossible but it has been possible only with the presence of micro electrodes. According to them if the prosthetic limb could be connected to the microelectrodes and then the microelectrodes could be implanted in that part of the individual’s brain that consisted of the intension to perform the movement, then the limbs even they are robotic cn be guided accordingly.

Formerly the problem was that even when the prosthetic limbs were forced to work in the right manner manually, the results were not very positive but now the scientists are themselves astounded by the results.

Case study: 

There was a person in Los Angeles named Sorto who was in the army but unfortunately in the year 2002 he became crippled for life as a result of a single gunshot. Since then, it had literally become impossible for him to perform even his daily needs and he hated to be dependent on anybody.

So the scientists did the first mind controlled prosthetic limb experiment on him. In the University of the Sothern California, a pair of small electrodes was placed on the posterior parietal cortex of Sorto. Then the pair of prosthetic limbs was connected to the computers that were carrying the brain signals of Sorto’s intentional movement.
It was seen that the limbs moved in the manners he wanted to and thus the scientists could successfully find out a way so that even the crippled did not have to be dependant in any way. While these robotic limbs encourage the fact that the work can be done faster formerly the prosthetic limbs used to do the work in a delayed and imperfect manner.